For the Love of Her
by Shinra Bleeding Beauty
Summary: A fic collaboration with my friend General Quistis, this is another attempt to show what happens if Tifa dies instead of Aerith... with a very surprising ending...
1. 1

For the Love of Her 

**By**: ShinRa Bleeding Beauty & General Quistis

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think we own Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft and its characters? :(

**Authors' note**: The setting of this story is somewhat like an alternate universe thingy whatsoever… this is our version of the somewhat clichéd idea _what if Tifa was the one who died instead of Aerith_ with a new twist… I hope this thing works out the way we want it to be…

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            "You lost track of them?" General Heidegger demanded from the Turks.

"N…not really… someone died from their team but we managed to get the body away…" Reno replied.

Rufus frowned when he heard that as he faced the others. "You brought me a corpse? That's it?" he demanded with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Professor Hojo was the one who wanted the body, Mister President." Heidegger explained with an apologetic look on his face.

"I see… and what is he going to do with that body?" Rufus asked.

"We don't really know… maybe turn it into another one of his nasty clones," Heidegger thought silently but did not really bother to broadcast it to everyone in the room.

"Fine, where is the body?" Rufus asked.

All of them were in awe upon hearing the question. "Where is the body?" he repeated, turning to Reno.

"In his lab." Reno replied as he shoved his hands inside his pocket.

Rufus thought for a while before he sat down on his office seat. "Whose body is it? Does it belong to that Ancient or the big fat guy?" he asked.

"It's the girl with dark hair and big boobs." Reno explained with a shrug.

Rufus raised an eyebrow, trying to picture the girl in his mind. "How did she die?" he asked.

"Sephiroth killed her." Reno explained as he referred to his clothes with some bloodstains. "I had to carry the girl back here away from her pesky AVALANCHE friends." He said.

Rufus frowned at the sight of blood against Reno's white polo, cringing at the thought of memories from his own childhood. With that, he looked away and stood up. "Away with all of you. I want you to continue your search." He commanded.

"Yes, sir," General Heidegger replied before he got out of the room with Reno.

Rufus just stayed inside his office for the rest of the evening.

*** 

            Aerith was beginning to get worried as she continued to pace back and forth. "What's taking Cloud so long?" she asked herself as she sat down on the sidewalk.

After a few moments, he heard some footsteps from behind her. She instantly turned around and her eyes grew wide when she saw Cloud. "Did you bury her already?" she asked.

Cloud shook his head. "Didn't really bury her… just threw her in the lake." He replied with a voice that seemed to falter.

Aerith stood up and approached him, hugging him tightly to comfort him. "We could've given her a proper burial but… because of the awful consecutive events, we just can't…" she said sadly as tears streamed down her face.

Cloud looked down at her and sighed heavily. "I know…" he said before putting his arm around her shoulder. "Let's just go and look for a place to sleep… we're both tired…" he said softly as he began to walk with her.

*** 

            Scarlet looked down at the dead girl lying on the operating table. "Kya~h… I don't understand why you made me come here for…" she stated flatly before turning to Hojo.

"I want you to help me clean her up. We need to treat her wound and get rid of the water from her lungs." Hojo told her as he adjusted his glasses.

"Kyah…" Scarlet looked back at the girl and studied her pale face. "Kyah… what are you going to do with her, anyway?" she demanded as she crossed her arms. 

Hojo approached her and patted the dead girl's shoulder. "I'm not really sure… but such a beautiful face shouldn't just go to waste, don't you think, huh, Scarlet?" he asked with a sly smile on his face.

Scarlet made a face and snorted.

Hojo touched the dead girl's face. "She's got crimson eyes that are really very pretty… if only she could open them now… and she has a very perfect body… her spiky-headed friend just literally threw her in the lake. I asked Reno to get her so that I could do something to her…" he trailed off when Scarlet gasped.

"KYAH! You dirty old fool! You're not gonna screw her up like this?" she demanded, suddenly pitying the dead girl.

Hojo's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "NO! Of course not! Hah! I'm not that sick you know?" he demanded as he put his hands on his hips.

"Kyah… you even had intentions of making that Ancient mate with that red dog thing and you refer to yourself as _not sick_? Kyahaha! You gotta be kidding me!" she snapped as she turned back to the girl and began to remove her boots and her gloves. "What is her name, anyhow?" she asked.

"Based on her records here in Midgar, her name is Tifa Lockheart. She's from Sector 7." He told her as he got a yellow folder, flipped it open and then began to read the file. "She's born on May 3… she's already 20. She's single and her height is 5'4"… such a young beautiful girl, don't you think so?" he asked before closing the folder and placed it on top of a table.

Scarlet made a face. "You always stress out that she's beautiful…" she muttered glumly.

"Why, you're jealous?" he teased with a nasty look on his face.

Scarlet frowned at him. "No. It's just that, I don't know your real intentions on why you got this poor girl. You should've just let her rot in the lake." She snapped.

"I thought you hated her?" he asked.

Scarlet felt so annoyed so she just decided to just change the subject. "Do you have a robe or something that I could use to cover her up? I'm gonna get rid of her bloody clothes." She stated flatly.

Hojo got a blanket and handed it to Scarlet. "I'll be right back. I'll just go and get her some clothes." He said before he headed upstairs.

Scarlet watched as he got out of the lab before proceeding to remove the rest of Tifa's clothing. "Kyah… I sure hope that that crazy professor doesn't do anything stupid to you like clone you or something…" she muttered glumly as she grabbed some gauze, some cotton and some alcohol to clean up the blood and the wound. "You're gonna need some stitches," she said with a nasty look on her face.

"Who needs some stitches?"

She covered Tifa's naked body with the blanket before turning around upon recognizing the voice. "President Rufus! Wh…what are you doing here? It's late!" she told him.

Rufus approached Scarlet before turning his gaze to Tifa. He frowned upon seeing her. "I thought so…" he thought silently before unconsciously reaching to Tifa's face and touched it gently. His fingertips felt her coldness and it made him feel chilly. "She's dead," he said softly.

"Kyah… she _is_ dead." Scarlet stressed out with a sleepy look on her face.

"What is her name?" he asked.

"Kyah… it's Tifa Lockheart." She replied as she crossed her arms.

Rufus nodded his head before turning to Scarlet. "Where is Hojo?" he asked.

"He went upstairs to get her some clothes…" she explained.

He nodded before turning back to Tifa. 

Scarlet made a face. "Kyah… why did you come down here, President Rufus?" she asked.

"It's none of your business." He snapped before he shoved his hands inside his pockets. "I'll be coming back here tomorrow to check on her." he said before turning back to Tifa and touched her face again with the back of his hand.

With that, he left.

"Hmf!" Scarlet said before turning back to Tifa. She slapped her face. "You slut!" she muttered.

*** 

            Rufus could not sleep that night. All he could do was think of Tifa. "What is it with me? I still need to wake up early so that I could continue with my plans… I should achieve more than old man did…" he thought silently as he sat up and looked at the clock. It read 4:00am.

He sighed heavily as he raked his fingers through his already disheveled hair. 

After thinking about it, he finally decided to get out of bed and headed for the couch by the window and got his silk blue robe. With that, he headed outside.

A few guards on-duty patrolling in the area were quite surprised upon seeing their President already awake in that unholy hour. "G…good morning, Mister President," they greeted as he passed by.

He ignored them and just continued to walk going to the elevator heading down to the laboratory. When he finally arrived, he was surprised to see Hojo seated by an empty operating table while drinking some coffee. 

Hojo looked up at Rufus and smiled. "President Rufus, I knew you'd come here," he said with enthusiasm.

Rufus raised an eyebrow but he did not say anything; he just turned to the operating table. "Where's she?" he thought silently with a cold look on his face.

"If you're looking for the girl, I placed her in one of the empty bedrooms upstairs… I'm sorry if I did not ask for your permission, President Rufus, but she needed some decent place to lie down," Hojo explained before putting the cup of coffee down on the operating table and stood up with a grim look on his face.

Rufus nodded slightly. 

"You want to see her?" Hojo asked as he went past him and headed for the door.

Rufus realized that Hojo wanted him to follow, so he did. "Why did you take her here?" he asked.

Hojo was silent until they finally reached the floor where Rufus's bedroom was located. 

Rufus saw the door to his own bedroom but did not say anything, but his mouth slightly dropped open when he realized that Hojo led themselves to the door to the room beside his.

The old man opened the door and stepped inside. "Come inside, President Rufus." He invited.

Rufus frowned at him before he entered the room. It smelled of sweet perfume that made him feel relax a little from the tension he felt.

The room was dimly lit by the lamplight from one corner of the room. He looked around, scanning the whole area until he came across the bed. His eyes narrowed at the sight of a very beautiful girl wearing a black dress lying on the bed. He slowly approached her and just stared at her for a couple of minutes before he finally reached down to her face and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. Unconsciously, he just smiled gently.

Hojo lowered his gaze to the ground when he saw him smile. "I can see that you are amazed by her, President Rufus," he said softly.

Rufus stiffened but he still continued to touch her face. "Yes, I am," he wanted to say, but he just kept quiet, instead he just said, "Is she dead?"

"I am trying to revive her," Hojo said.

Rufus sat down on the bed beside her and got her hand, squeezing it gently. "You should revive her," he said softly.


	2. 2

For the Love of Her 

**By**: ShinRa Bleeding Beauty & General Quistis

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think we own Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft and its characters? :(

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            Elena, Palmer, Reno, Heidegger, Hojo, Reeve,Scarlet and Rude were having their lunch.

"No progress?" Heidegger asked.

"Not really… there are still no commands from President Rufus." Scarlet replied with a glum look on her face.

Heidegger frowned. "Gyahahahaa! You gotta be kidding me! I thought he already said it last night?" he asked in disbelief.

"He revoked it just this morning." Hojo told them with a keen smile on his face before taking a sip of water.

The others fell silent until Heidegger broke it with a laugh. "Gyahahaha! Well then what did you do all morning? Sit around and stare into empty space? Where is the President, is he sick or something?" he asked.

"No, he asked us to go to the jewelry store and bought some girly jewelry. Kya~h…" Scarlet muttered glumly with a snotty look on her face.

Heidegger fell silent. "Jewelry?" he asked.

"A pearl bracelet, a silver bangle with a heart charm… and a silver necklace with the ShinRa crest engraved in front of the heart-shaped pendant." Elena explained with a weak smile on her face.

"What is he going to do with those things? Is he courting someone?" Heidegger asked.

"More like, courting something… he's giving it to the corpse!" Palmer snapped as he raised his fork in protest.

"A corpse?" Heidegger repeated in disbelief.

"Looks like you did not report to President Rufus this morning, huh, Heidegger? He told every single one of us to watch out for Sephiroth and after he did so, he explained why he is revoking all plans." Reeve said before lowering his gaze to his custard cake.

"Because he did not call for me. Tell me, Reeve, what's his explanation? It better be good and should be proper for that mature mind of his!" Heidegger snapped.

"He said that he has _other plans_ as of now…" Reeve stated flatly.

"What other plans?" Heidegger asked.

"Reviving the corpse that Scarlet was talking about awhile ago." Hojo butt in.

All eyes turned to him.

"Oh great… what does that corpse have to do with anything regarding President Rufus's plans? It's only Tifa Lockheart!" Heidegger said airily as he pounded on the table, surprising Elena and Scarlet.

"That's the answer. It's _only_ Tifa Lockheart," Hojo pointed out with a keen smile on his face before he gobbled up a piece of sliced beef. They waited until he was able to swallow it and he started talking again. "He encouraged me to revive the girl… though I can only do that by cloning her. However, he doesn't want me to clone her, so I just decided to…"

"Oh don't tell me you're going to make a Frankenstein-like monster out of that girl?" Reeve asked with a disgusted look on his face, cutting Hojo.

Hojo faced him. "No. I am to use the energy from Planet to revive her." he said with an evil look on his face before he stood up. "However, it's going to take long before she opens her eyes again… But look at her now, the paleness is gone. The color has returned to her face… and she looks more radiant than ever! I've already started with it this morning." He said.

"How long will it take?" Heidegger asked.

"Soon… I'll have my own way…" Hojo replied before he left.

"I tell ya, that guy's nuts!" Reno told Elena.

"The next thing we'll know, President Rufus is going to marry that corpse…" Scarlet thought miserably as she slouched.

"You seem restless, Scarlet," Reeve said.

"I _am_ restless, Reeve. We can't just let Rufus have his own way with that girl! This could bring about the downfall of ShinRa if he succumbs to this insanity of his!" she snapped.

"Scarlet's right… why would President Rufus even fall in-love with…with a dead girl?" Elena asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"But Hojo said that he's going to revive her," Reno said.

Rude was silent, just listening to their conversation. "I wonder what will happen? Sephiroth is still on the loose…" he thought silently as he stared blankly at his food.

*** 

            "I never knew that you're such a vulnerable creature, Rufus ShinRa," Sephiroth thought silently as he watched silently from outside the window of Tifa's room. 

Rufus was seated beside Tifa's body, inserting the silver bangle bracelet with the heart charm on her right wrist. He had this cold look on his face but his blue eyes reflected gentleness… that side of him that had long disappeared ever since his mother died.

Sephiroth turned his green eyes to the dead girl. "It's such a good thing killing you; you are such a big help for me," he said as he licked his lips, and then turned back to Rufus. "Fortunately, this Prince had fallen in-love with you. I could use you to delay his plans and go on with mine…" he thought silently with an evil smile on his face as he moved closer to the window to get a better view of Tifa and Rufus, but he moved away again when Rufus instantly turned his gaze to the window, sensing some movement.

Rufus narrowed his eyes as his frown deepened before turning back to Tifa, touching her hand with his. 

Sephiroth wanted to laugh but he stopped himself. "The things that people do when they're in-love," he muttered before fixing his gaze on Tifa. He smiled evilly at her. "I could've just taken you away in the first place…" he said before finally leaving…


	3. 3

For the Love of Her 

**By**: ShinRa Bleeding Beauty & General Quistis

**Disclaimer**: Do you really think we own Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft and its characters? :(

**IMPORTANT AUTHORS' NOTE FOR THIS CHAPTER:** Assuming you've played the game, you all know what happened regarding the explosion of ShinRa, right? So………………..

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            Scarlet covered her mouth in awe upon hearing and seeing the Tower explode.

Reeve's eyes were wide in disbelief as he watched events unfolding before his eyes. They were already outside, in a safer place… but they saw it all…

"P…President Rufus… is still… is still inside…" Scarlet stammered.

Reeve frowned, thinking that he should be doing something. With that, he ran off heading back to the ShinRa building.

Scarlet gasped and ran after him. "Reeve! Where are you going? It's dangerous there!" she called out as she continued to follow.

*** 

            He could feel himself bleeding and weakening every single moment, but he still continued to walk, holding his bleeding left shoulder. "Tifa," he said softly as he staggered. He grunted when he hit a wall but he lost his balance and eventually fell to the floor. 

"Closer…" he realized, seeing the end of the hallway. But he lost the strength to stand up, so he just crawled, leaving a trail of blood as proceeded to the room where the most important thing of his life was hidden.

The moment he got to the door, he grasped the doorknob with his weak hands and turned it. He coughed out some blood but he didn't care. He pushed the door open and he fell forward. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, his vision getting blurred. "I'm going to die…" he realized.

Of course, who wouldn't die at such an explosion?

He could feel his own body convulsing, but he still managed to crawl up to the bed where she is… 

Though some parts of the room had already been affected by the explosion, he did not care; he wanted to be with her. He touched her wrist, trying to feel a pulse, like what he had been doing every morning when he woke up…

Still none.

He could feel his heart sinking as he embraced her tightly and kissed her lips, his blood staining her. With that, he closed his eyes and rested his head beside hers and breathed out his last.

*** 

            Reeve and Scarlet finally got inside the building. Everything was quiet and still.

"I don't think we should be going up… the elevators aren't working anymore…" Scarlet told him.

Reeve ignored her and still proceeded to the stairs. "We have the stairs, Scarlet," he said as he led the way.

Scarlet turned around when she saw Elena rushing to her. She was coughing and dusting herself. "Elena," she said.

"Where is everyone?" Elena asked.

"President Rufus is upstairs, let's go and find him," Reeve told them as he began to climb up.

Scarlet shook her head in disbelief as she followed him. "What if we're too late? Anyone could've died easily with that explosion!" she said.

"There is still hope," Reeve said.

Elena watched as they disappeared up the stairs. She looked around, observing the whole area. "I think this place is going to collapse…" she thought before she headed outside to look for Reno. The moment she got outside, she looked up, back at the building and her eyes grew wide when she saw someone climbing up the walls of the building.

"What the…" she said as her eyes narrowed on the figure with long silver hair. She gasped as her eyes grew wide in surprise. "Sephiroth!" she thought in alarm.

*** 

            Her lips twitched and she gently sucked in some air and then exhaled slowly. She could taste blood.

Soon, she opened her eyes and blinked twice upon seeing the broken ceiling. But she did not move. 

There was something wrong with her eyes…

They were blank.

With that, she turned her head to the side and saw the dead figure beside her whose arms were around her. Instantly, tears filled her eyes and the moment she blinked again, they fell uncontrollably. "Who did this to you?" she thought as she reached out to him and embraced him. 

There was something in her that she somewhat felt… she felt like a zombie. "What is happening to me?" she thought as her hand traveled to her chest, trying to feel any heartbeat… 

There was none. 

But she did not feel like being surprised. Slowly, she sat up and stared blankly at the broken window and at the figure with long silver hair.

He smiled evilly at her. "Finally, you're mine," he told her.

She just looked up at him as her hand traveled to the hand of the dead person beside her and grasped it tightly. 

Sephiroth saw it and he cringed in annoyance. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

She narrowed her eyes at him before she let go of the hand, got out of bed and approached Sephiroth.

He descended to the floor with arms wide open to her. "Come here, Tifa," he said invitingly with an evil smirk on his face.

Tifa's gaze was just fixed on him as she neared him, but the moment when she reached enough distance, instead of falling into his embrace, she grasped his arms tightly, squeezing them.

Sephiroth realized that tears were streaming down her face and that her eyes reflected too much anger and hatred. It made him frown at her and he tried to move away but she still held on to him. "What the…" he managed to say when she moved her mouth to speak, "Lifestream wants you," she told him.

He wanted to say something more, but his own voice faltered… and the next thing he knew, he could feel his own body decaying. "What…what is happening?!" he thought in alarm.

Moments later he was dead.

Tifa let go of him and watched him fall to the floor with a cold look on her face before she slowly turned her gaze to the door where she saw Reeve and Scarlet staring at her in awe, wondering how she could destroy such a powerful man so easily.

But she ignored them as she turned back to Rufus and approached him again, staggering. When she neared the bed, she collapsed beside him, lying on her stomach and then closing her eyes after her hand found his and squeezed it for the last time…

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A/N: We know it's insane & confusing… -.-'


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